Peter Coggan

Photos with Peter Coggan

Biography

Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA

Peter James Coggan was raised in farm country just outside of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The family home was too remote for cable television so he spent his time as an avid super 8mm filmmaker and budding (self taught) pyro technician. He became a professional still photographer by age 12 and used this as a way into every lab and darkroom in the region. This was extremely helpful in generating his early special effects and title sequences. Read more... back. Being in no condition to run around with heavy cameras and lights he opted to study his less kinetic passion, performance music, while rehabilitating. Having studied numerous facets of music at the University of Colorado, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a Musician and Audio Engineer while earning his Rotorcraft pilot's license. Pete quickly found himself more involved in the production of Music Videos than performing in them. Largely because he was happy to let aspiring young filmmakers film ariels over Los Angeles for gas money. He rediscovered his true calling upon being the only person able to use a light meter on an "un-authorized" music video shoot. The DP was a no-show, but Pete figured out how to load the Arri and shot the video. Shortly thereafter he found himself doing more Film and Video work than Audio Engineering. When offered a job as Director/Cameraman/Production Manager at Warren Miller Films, Pete was quickly on his way back to Colorado. Especially since the house he was living in had recently burned down in Malibu. During his tenure at Warren Miller, he oversaw over 50 hours of episodic Television including Global Journeys and Warren Miller's Extreme, two feature films (50 and Ride) and Directed many of the music videos and commercials that came through the company at the time. He also coordinated the first exclusively digital release of a major motion picture in a collaboration with Sony. In the evenings, Pete continued working toward his degree in Music and added a Film Production major at the urging of his Ivy League educated wife, Caroline. During his third year as a senior he was accepted to a student symposium at the Telluride Film Festival where he had hours of one-on-one time with George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Chuck Jones and Ken Burns. Shortly thereafter, Pete elected to join his classmate Trey Parker on the honorary degree path and resumed making his own movies. Aware that there was simply no infrastructure in Colorado capable of handling the emergence of 2K/4K feature film projects, Pete formed 42 Productions in Boulder, Colorado to rectify the situation. Aside from his own endeavors, 42 quickly became the go-to shop in the region for feature films, ad agency work, music videos and high end production and finish work including Color Grading and CGI. An impressive list of regional and industry firsts and noteworthy projects happened at 42. Several dozen documentaries and feature films, dozens of 30 second spots and music videos have been produced and/or finished at the Boulder facility. VW, Burger King, HP, Old Navy, New Belgium and Ball Aerospace are a few of their clients. Pete has regularly been a consultant for Paramount, Fox Home Video and for members of the Sony Blu Ray Panel. In 2008, Within 2 Weeks of the arrival of two of the first RED ONE Cameras in the region, Pete and 42 Productions were in principal photography on their feature film, Woodshop. The film was for all intent and purposes a feasibility study to determine whether a financially viable narrative feature film could be made exclusively in Colorado with local cast, crew and post production. Woodshop exceeded all expectations and was the perfect spring-board for Pete into his second feature film, Fishing Naked. Fishing Naked is a substantially more ambitious project along Pete's plan to continue making feature films in what he calls "Sustainable Indie Filmmaking."